Why we run small groups
By Charlotte Schoeters · · 4 min read
The retreats are capped at 12 people, not because of the riad's capacity, but because of what happens to a group when it crosses a certain size.
The retreats are capped at 12 people. The riad could accommodate a few more. We choose not to.
This is sometimes the first question: smaller groups mean higher per-person costs. This is true and worth addressing directly.
What happens at 14
Somewhere between 12 and 14 people, a group stops behaving like a group and starts behaving like a crowd. Subgroups form. The quieter guests retreat into themselves. The energy on the mat fragments: some people are in the class, some are watching the class, some have already mentally moved on to lunch. The shared meals that should feel like a long table at someone's home start to feel like a restaurant.
I noticed this running retreats for tour operators in 2016 and 2017, when groups were regularly 20 to 25 people. Technically functional. Often lonely in ways that were difficult to pinpoint but impossible to ignore.
What changes at 10
With 10 people, everyone knows everyone by the second morning. Not deeply — not yet — but enough to offer a yoga block to the person next to them without being asked. Enough to sit next to the guest eating alone at lunch without making it a thing. The social friction of strangers dissolves faster in a small group, and what remains is the actual retreat: the practice, the rest, the conversations that begin over dinner and continue until late on the terrace.
Teaching is different
Teaching 10 people is fundamentally different from teaching 20. With 10, I can see every body in the room. I can offer a specific adjustment to the guest who needs a hip-flexor modification rather than a generic cue to the whole class. The person who needs to be left alone gets left alone. The person who needs to be challenged is challenged. This is the difference between a class and a practice — and it requires a small group to achieve.
In a small group the teacher sees everyone, every class. No one falls through the gaps.
On the cost
Retreats at Yogavibe cost more per person than large-group alternatives. The fixed costs — riad takeover, teaching, daily catering, transfers and activities — are shared across fewer guests, and we do not add guests to reduce the per-person cost. The price reflects the experience we want to deliver, not the margin we want to achieve.
Guests who come once tend to come back. We take this as evidence that the trade-off is the right one.
Custom retreats for companies, friend groups and yoga teacher collectives are available for groups of up to 12 (larger groups on request). Full takeover of a private riad or villa, custom schedule. If you want to talk through what this could look like for your group, reach out: charlotte@yogavibe.eu.